West Virginia 8
Cyclones 3
July 23 at West Virginia
The Black Bears finished off a three-game sweep of the Cyclones but Brooklyn skipper Tom Gamboa wasn’t around to see the end, as the fiery skipper was thrown out of the game in the fifth inning for arguing a new, minor-league only rule that demands hitters don’t leave the batter’s box for an extended period of time.
With two on and two out in the fifth, David Thompson came to the plate with Brooklyn trailing 5–3.
Thompson worked the count to 2–2 against Juan Paula and stepped out of the box. Home plate umpire David Martinez soon ruled that Thompson took too long to get back in, and called an automatic strike.
Gamboa was less than pleased and read Martinez the riot act before being ejected.
Brooklyn committed three errors after having five the night before — but three came in the first inning.
West Virginia loaded the bases on a triple, an error by Zack Mathieu and a walk. Alfredo Reyes’ error scored the first run of the game and keeping the bases loaded.
Alexis Bastardo’s two-run single off Kevin Canelon made it 3–0.
Bastardo would torment Canelon with another run-scoring single in the third to give the Black Bears a 4–0 lead.
With runners on the corners and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Kevin Newman stole home as part of a double steal to put West Virginia up 5–0.
The Cyclones rallied in the fifth as Mathieu and Enmanuel Zabala started the inning with back-to-back singles. Manuel Hilario’s first homer of the year cut the lead to 5–3.
Tucker Tharp singled and Hengelbert Rojas was hit by a pitch to bring up David Thompson with two on and two out. Then came the questionable strike out and Gamboa ejection.
West Virginia scored a run on a strikeout in the sixth. After a passed ball put runners on second and third, Ty Moore struck out swinging on a pitch that got away. Hilario threw Moore out at first, but Erik Forgione scored to make it 6–3.
The Black Bears put the game away in the seventh. With runners on second and third with one out, Alex Palsha came in for Ruben Reyes.
A wild pitch scored a run and a run-scoring ground out off the bat of Bastardo made it 8–3. Bastardo drove in four runs on the night.
Canelon dropped to 2–2 with the loss, giving up five runs in four innings.
Hengelbert Rojas, the only Clone with a multi-hit game, had two of Brooklyn’s eight hits.
The 18–14 Cyclones, who must be thrilled to get out of Bear City, will play on Friday against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. First pitch is at 7:05 pm.
